I have a quick question that came up today as we were out at brunch. Why do we call the fresh fish "tuna," but we call that in the can "tuna fish?" The fresh tuna, after all, seems more like fish than that in the can.

Generally, in Hawaii, it's called ahi.

Four species of tuna are landed in substantial quantities in Hawaii:
• Albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) or tombo ahi;
• Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) or ahi;
• Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) or aku; and,
• Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) or ahi.

I just wonder why the canned stuff is called "tuna fish," but the fresh fish isn't. Is that a purposeful way of delineating them?

Well, I'm sure this was not the answer you were looking for!

It seems almost as if the word "fish" might have been added to describe what was in the can for people who lived inland and had never heard of tuna. Or, to explain to a child. It's funny, because you would never refer to a can of salmon as a can of "salmon fish."

My father always said the "tuna" was a euphemism created by the fisheries industry to make the fish more salable--that the real name of the fish was 'horse mackerel." But I just looked it up, and mackerel and tuna are just related. One is not a nickname for the other.

Wordmatic